Midnight Shift
by happyday girl
Summary: Modern AU oneshot. Athos, Porthos and d'Artagnan become concerned when Aramis starts refusing to come out with them, and when they realise he is spending a lot of time between shifts in the local hospital, they are determined to find out what's wrong with their friend...


Porthos yawned as he switched his computer off and threw the report he had been working on into his drawer, locking it with his key which he slammed into his pencil pot with a sigh.

'Right- time for the pub, lads!' he called to the three men who were also still at their desks as the clock struck seven. 'We can pick this up tomorrow.'

'Treville wanted it complete by nine tomorrow.' d'Artagnan reminded him, yet he too switched off his computer and wheeled his chair back, before stretching like a cat.

'Yeah, so we come in at eight and finish it?' Porthos shrugged. He looked across to Athos, who was still scribbling down notes in his little notepad he kept by his keyboard. 'That'll be alright, won't it Athos?'

The other man looked up, his face lined with tiredness. They had been dealing with a potential serial killer case for a week now, and he knew Chief Inspector Treville expected answers. Looking across to his men, however, he knew that they couldn't function on coffee and chocolate alone, and doing a week's worth of twelve hour shifts certainly wasn't helping either.

'I think we could all do with a couple of pints,' he finally agreed, putting down his pen with a sigh as Porthos chuckled and rubbed his hands together.

'That's what I'm talking about...' he smiled, before looking across to Aramis, who was still working on his own part of the report.

'Oi- didn't you hear?' He muttered, before, upon not getting an answer, he encircled his hands around his mouth and shouted 'Detective Sergeant Aramis! Pub time!'

At this Aramis did look up, a tired smile on his face as he finally put his pen down. 'Sorry, I can't tonight- I've got plans.'

'Plans?' Porthos echoed. 'Plans? Better plans than spending a night drinking in our hilarious company?'

Aramis chuckled as he sat back in his chair. 'Afraid so,' he replied, before standing and grabbing his bag from under his desk. 'How about Friday? I've got nothing to do Friday?'

'But its Wednesday!' d'Artagnan reminded him as the other three men all stood up and gathered their belongings. 'The Crown does karaoke on Wednesdays!'

Aramis laughed as he joined them in the lift to the carpark. 'I know you shall all dearly miss my Sinatra impression tonight, but I'll have to pass. Sorry lads,' he muttered, shrugging.

'Oi, you didn't come to the pub last week either!' Porthos suddenly piped up as the lift took them down.

'Or the week before...' Athos added. The lift doors opened and the four men walked to their respective vehicles, except Aramis, who lived close enough to the station to not need to drive. He hovered near Athos' car as they unlocked their doors. 'What can I say, I've been busy...' he muttered as the other men looked across to him, their eyes inquisitive.

'Probably got another married woman on the go...' d'Artagnan grinned, to which Aramis chuckled and pointed at him.

'Watch it, you!' he muttered, relaxing as the others smiled.

'Alright then, if you're sure you don't want to come?' Athos asked, eyebrows raised. 'I can give you a lift?'

'Thanks but no- like I said, maybe next week?' Aramis smiled at him as Athos nodded and got into his car.

'Have a good night!' he called to the others as they all shut their respective doors and switched on the ignitions.

He stepped back as they reversed out of the spaces, waving at each of them in turn as they drove out of the car park and into the busy London night.

He sighed a little as he started walking out of the brightly-lit car park and into the bustling streets of the Capital, before he turned the corner and headed in the direction of St Thomas' Hospital.

* * *

The next week, Aramis declined Porthos' offer of a poker night hosted in his flat- he knew Porthos would be sorely disappointed at his refusal, but he could hardly help it.

As he suspected his friend looked very put out as Aramis said he couldn't make it, but he was grateful that Porthos didn't press the matter too much. He had already missed half the visiting time at the hospital due to mandatory overtime, so he wanted to make sure he caught the last few minutes before he had to go home.

Unbeknownst to Aramis, however, when he turned down the next Karaoke night extravaganza at The Crown the week after, Porthos had hatched a plan in his mind and had dragged Athos and d'Artagnan into the night to bring it into action...

'This doesn't feel right.' Athos muttered to the others, voice sombre. 'I highly doubt Aramis would appreciate us spying on him.'

'I'm telling ya, there's something fishy going on...' Porthos replied.

'Like I said, he could be dallying with some lady- I don't think either of them would like the idea of us being peeping toms!' d'Artagnan reminded them both. They were all presently stood on the side of the road, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible as they watched Aramis walk ahead of them, buttoning his coat against the cold.

'Where do you think he's going?' Porthos whispered, voice conspiratorial.

'Maybe he's visiting his mother?' Athos mused. 'Or another relative?' he added, before sighing as Porthos continued staring after their friend. 'Come on, we're wasting valuable drinking time, not to mention laughing time at watching d'Artagnan pretending to warble like Tom Jones...'

'Hey! I'll have you know my Tom Jones impression is completely on par!' d'Artagnan muttered, affronted.

'Yes, if by on par you mean on par with sounding like a cat being strangled.' Athos shot back, before he rolled his eyes as he realised Porthos hadn't moved. 'Porthos come on,' he said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

'Hang on a sec...he's going into St Thomas''!' he muttered.

'What, the hospital?' d'Artagnan muttered.

'No, the chicken shop!' Porthos deadpanned with a snort. 'What's he doing there? Has he mentioned being ill?'

'Not to me...' Athos replied, peering into the darkness himself just in time to watch Aramis walk through the automatic doors and head into the hospital. 'Could be visiting a relative, like I said.'

'Nah, he would've mentioned it...'

'He doesn't have to tell us everything, Porthos.' Athos muttered. 'We're not his mum!'

'Yeah, but still...'

'Look, lets just ask him tomorrow morning.' Athos shrugged. 'He'll either tell us or he won't.'

'Well, we're here now, aren't we?' Porthos muttered, looking to the other two men.

'No, absolutely not! How would you like it if we followed you into hospital to do something you haven't told us about!'

'I would be flattered you cared enough about me to check up on me.'

'Well...' Athos floundered. 'Its obviously very personal.'

'Athos, if he's ill I want to help him through it!'

'Perhaps he's not ill- maybe he's visiting someone? D'Artagnan muttered, teeth slightly chattering in the cold. 'I doubt he'd like us all trooping in when he's talking to someone else!'

'Well lets go and have a butchers- if we can't find him we'll ask him tomorrow, ok?' Porthos nodded, before walking off before waiting for an answer.

'Someday he's really going to get us into trouble with his cavalier attitude...' Athos lamented with a sigh, before he and the younger man followed him across the road and into the hospital.

* * *

'I told you we wouldn't be able to find him!' Athos growled as he smiled awkwardly at the third nurse who looked quizzically at them as they walked, lost, around the white hospital corridors.

'It's like a bloody maze...' d'Artagnan whispered, his shoes squeaking on the floor as they walked the hallways, eyes peeled for Aramis.

'He'll be around here somewhere...' Porthos muttered, the antiseptic smell clogging his nose and making him sniffle. They had already checked A and E, the minor injuries unit and had poked their heads around the door to the burns unit- now they were nearing the wards, and Athos knew that they would soon get stopped and asked to leave if they kept looking around like this.

'Come on, lets-'

'There he is!' Porthos whispered, nodding further down the corridor at the retreating back of Aramis, who had just walked out of the men's toilet and was heading to another ward.

The three men hurried down after him, looking up at the sign to the ward with open mouths.

'Oh no.' Porthos gulped, a nervousness fizzing in his veins.

'Surely not?' The Gascon muttered, voice low.

'There's only one way to find out.' Athos muttered, pushing the door open to the maternity unit and stepping inside.

Owing to an experience when visiting a family member who had just given birth, Athos knew Maternity wards were well protected by security measures, so he did not even try to push the buzzer to the internal wards that houses the babies and their mothers- this would alert the midwives and nurses, and he was sure they'd be arrested if they didn't have a good reason to be here.

Porthos stood on his tiptoes and peered into the glass window in the door, eyes narrowed as he looked around the large room.

'I can't see him...' he reported back, before his eyes caught sight of his friend sitting on a chair, cradling a small child to his chest and rocking them gently. 'He's holding a baby...'

'His baby?' d'Artagnan asked, voice high.

'I don't know, do I?' Porthos hissed, before his eyes widened as Aramis happened to look up- their eyes met for a split second before Porthos ducked back down, swearing under his breath.

'He saw me!''

'Oh, brilliant...' Athos groaned, sighing to himself.

Seconds later they saw Aramis at the door- he opened it and stepped outside, eyes narrowed in confusion.

'Evening lads...' he muttered. '...Why are you here?'

'Porthos made us follow you!' d'Artagnan spoke first, poking Porthos in the shoulder.

'I thought you were ill...' Porthos shifted nervously, suddenly feeling foolish at having being caught out. 'We wanted to know what was wrong...'

'Porthos,' Aramis smiled, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder. 'You could have just asked me.'

'That's what I said...' Athos muttered, giving Aramis an apologetic smile before nodding to the door. 'Is there something you want to tell us?'

'Yeah, are we Uncles now?' d'Artagnan added, grinning.

Aramis laughed at that, shaking his head as he tried to catch his breath. 'Hang on, I'll ask the nurse if she's happy for you all to come in for a few minutes...' he said, still chuckling as he tapped in the code for the door and stepped inside, shutting it with a snap.

So, not uncles, then?' The Gascon muttered, slightly disappointed.

'Seems not,' Athos shrugged, although he struggled to understand why Aramis was here if he wasn't visiting his own child.

Seconds later the door opened and Aramis beckoned them in, a finger on his lips to let them know to be quiet.

'I saw an ad in the paper a few weeks ago about a new programme in maternity wards...' he explained in a whisper as they crossed the room. Due to the late hour most of the babies were asleep in their cots- the babies who had mothers still in hospital were covered by the curtain that wrapped around their mother's bed, hiding them from view, however Athos noticed a few babies were alone, either sleeping peacefully or staring into the ceiling with wide eyes.

'Some of the babies here have mothers who have been discharged from hospital, but not them.' he added, motioning to the babies who were alone. 'Some of their mothers live far away, or have other children, so cannot come here everyday...so a few volunteers and I come here every so often and just hold them so they continue having human-to-human contact. It helps them settle and remain calm until their mothers arrive, apparently...'

Athos looked across to his friend as he shrugged, suddenly bashful. 'Well,' he whispered, now smiling broadly as he squeezed Aramis' shoulder. 'As excuses to get out of a night of drinking go, that's a pretty decent one.'

Aramis smiled as others nodded their agreement. 'Why didn't you want to tell us?' Porthos asked.

'Don't know...' Aramis shrugged.

'What a lovely thing to do...' d'Artagnan whispered, looking across at the babies. 'How do I sign up?'

'Yeah, I'd like to volunteer too,' Porthos nodded, as did Athos.

'Speak to the nurse at the table over there,' Aramis pointed, smiling as his friends headed over. Looking up at the clock he saw that visiting time was almost over for the night. He waved at little Poppy, who he had been singing a lullaby to as she drifted off to sleep, and walked over to join the others, heart swelling as the four of them walked out of the hospital a few minutes later, a new and worthwhile activity joining them all together stronger than they were before.

 **Well, I'm not sure where this came from- it appeared in my mind after watching a youtube video and I just had to get it down ^^**

 **I hope you enjoyed it- this is also my first Modern AU Musketeers fic, so I hope you enjoyed! I may add more fics to this in the future if I get inspiration again so, watch this space!**

 **Please review, I'd love to know your thoughts!**


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